By the Fire
by lamegay
Summary: Pre-relationship Vastra isn't feeling well because of the weather and her own stresses and Jenny tries to take care of her.
1. Chapter 1

It was winter, a very cold winter at that, not a time or temperature best suited to reptiles of any kind.

Vastra frowned and brought her fingers to her temples, migraines, or the silurian equivalent of such, had become increasingly more common in the recent months. She put her elbow on the arm of her chair and rested her head on her hand, she was chilly and in pain and it was very unpleasant.

Not too far off from her, about a meter and a half away, her live-in maid-turned-assistant sat in a similar state, much less cold though.

Jenny gnawed off the skin on her lips, an unfortunate nervous habit if you were to ask her mother, and it made her think. It was Jenny's experience that her thinking never usually lead to anything particularly spectacular. On to her actual thoughts; the human often thought about silurian culture and anatomy. For the most part Vastra looked similar enough to a human, forgetting the scales, but did the similarity end at their bipedal nature? For example, could Vastra pull scales from her lips as Jenny did with skin? Perhaps a better question was this: why did she even have those questions? She didn't care.

The silurian, in desperation for heat and currently lacking shame, quite literally slid off her seat just to, in a motion not dissimilar to falling but just a bit more graceful, move into a foetal position beside the fire.

Jenny left the room unnoticed and returned with light feet, creeping towards her frien- employer with pillow in hand and gently placed it beneath her head, she couldn't have been comfortable lying there like that. She had to get up quite close, closer than she was comfortable with, even kneeling, so close the flames very nearly licked at her sleeves.

"Thank you," she mumbled. Her hand brought itself back to her temple and was most relieved to find her headache slowly beginning to wane.

"Just doing my job ma'am," she answered politely and placed the back of her hand against Vastra's forehead. Always forgetting about how silurians were cold blooded by nature. But Vastra was so warm towards her. The gesture was familiar for Jenny, checking her siblings' temperature was something she did often when she was young.

"Jenny?" she began, almost slurring, "what are you doing?"

"Mammal things." Lying wasn't something Jenny wasn't accustomed to. Well, it wasn't lying, per se, she just was not in the mood to explain.

"Do you touch many people's faces?" came her quick questioning, if Vastra were the sort- and she wasn't- she might have even sounded a touch jealous.

A laugh, a quiet one, came from the maid. Poor Vastra, the weather was really having an adverse effect on her. "No Vastra- ma'am," she corre end herself quickly, "I don't. It's my job to take care of you."

Her eyes snapped open and she stared quizzically at the woman above her. "It's your job? Is that what being a maid entails? I don't expect you to take care of me."

"It's my job," she repeated. "And if you die, I'm out of the job, I don't want to find another, I quite like this one."

"I didn't expect to hear that from you."

This confused Jenny, surely she knew that she enjoyed her job. It was exciting and she was happy, Vastra treated her well and was better than most.

Her expression of puzzlement was clear and Vastra explained what she had meant, "permit me to expand. You, as I have observed, haven't been particularly, hm, you've been less..." she frowned as she tried to find the correct words.

"Don't matter ma'am," she replied quietly, still with the back of her hand against Vastra's scaled forehead.

"Of course it matters." Both Jenny and Vastra were surprised at the force behind her words, especially since Vastra wasn't feeling completely well.

"If theres something wrong tell me and I will help." Under normal circumstances she might have become concerned at her sudden protectiveness. Actually, it was hardly sudden. Vastra was quite protective of humans as a whole despite her apparent dislike of them, what with serving under Scotland Yard on a regular basis, but that was just her job. Jenny was different, she didn't have an obligation to her maid. She kept her in good check too, always having enough food for the pair of them and never taking her anywhere she didn't believe Jenny could handle herself or where she couldn't protect her should worst come to worst.

"Stop it, I don't like you worrying about me you know that." This was not wholly true, she liked that she was concerned for her.

They sat quietly for a while, Vastra had closed her eyes and Jenny turned her hand so her palm was resting on the older womans forehead rather than the back of it. Jenny's mind wandered to thoughts she didn't want to think, as the mind often does, and wondered why there was a mutual caring between the two unlikely friends. They had met in Jenny's hour of need, this was true, but Vastra had conducted herself in a very, well, not-quite-human manner and Jenny would always associate her with that. Then they met again a short while after, then Jenny ended up under the employ of the woman who killed in cold blood. One could say it was fate but the very notion was ridiculous.

By contrast Vastra's mind was almost completely clear, thoughts almost completely focused on how pleasant the warmth was.

"Are you asleep?" Jenny asked in a whisper.

"No, are you tired?" came a quiet mumbled response.

"No."

"We haven't got anywhere to be tomorrow, you can have the day off if you stay up with me."

"I'm not sure that's a good idea ma'am."

She opened one eye to glance up at her and promptly closed it again. "It almost sounds as if you don't want a day off, that or you really don't want to spend time in my company."

"No it's just that I haven't really been attending to my duties like I should have, ma'am."

"You keep the house warm, provide me with food, and you accompany me on a great many of my ventures out, you've done more than enough, my dear."

"Yes ma'am but-"

"Also you can stop calling me that, you're not working."

"I'm a live-in maid I'm always working."

The lizard sighed a little louder than she had intended. "So tell me, Miss Flint, is this work to you?"

"Jenny," Vastra poked a well-trimmed claw at her face. It was soft and fleshy. And a bolder move than she had anticipated. "You've been staring at nothing for quite some time now."

The maid eventually removed her hand, it was becoming awkward. "Since I'm not working right now I don't have to answer."

"You wouldn't have to even if you were if you didn't want to.

"Its just that you said taking care of me is your job. If my current state is a burden you don't have to tend to me."

She laughed to herself. "You're bloody clever but you're an idiot sometimes. No offence."

It wasn't often that Vastra became confused, but it was usually caused by her human companion and it was becoming a more regular occurrence than she was comfortable with. She propped herself up on her elbows, nullifying the need for the pillow (though it was greatly appreciated). "I'm not an idiot."

* * *

This was written super quickly (by my standards) with little to no proofreading and its really clunky but I felt like I needed to get something out to motivate myself. Its 5am and I've dug through my super old drafts and wanted to rewrite this its lame as hell but they're cute and I'm gay as hell lmao hmu with prompts or whatever bc I used to have a load of vastra and jenny fics but I deleted them all bc I lost all confidence for writing over a year ago but they came back and with that I scoured through my old google docs account.


	2. Chapter 2

She poured two small glasses and nudged one towards the exhausted woman sitting across from her.

"Gin," she explained when tired eyes acquired a questioning glaze.

"I'm not thirsty."

A light chuckle, she smiled and nudged the glass again. "The point, my dear, is not hydration."

The other woman rolled her eyes but took the glass knowing that it would only be a waste if she didn't, though it was hardly as if they, or rather Vastra, couldn't afford to be wasteful.

"'Thank you my dear you take such wonderful care of me I truly am appreciative of you,'" she teased, poor mock cockney accent and all earning her another, markedly more exaggerated, eye roll.

"Firstly, that's not how I talk, secondly we both know, I think all of London knows, that its me who takes care of you and not the other way around," Jenny corrected, noting the faint frown on Vastra's face.

She pouted and swirled her drink in her glass for a moment before taking a swig.

Jenny continued, beginning to be caught up in her own musings, "For all intents and purposes I'm your maid, right?" Vastra didn't have time to answer, it must have been a hypothetical question. "But you take me everywhere, even on investigations." Not wanting to interrupt Vastra nodded instead of speaking. "And you're awfully protective- not that I mind most of the time, it's nice."

A few seconds passed before Vastra piped up, only because she wanted to be sure there was nothing else Jenny was going to say. She laughed again, something between light and born of genuine humor and sarcasm. "You know, perhaps that isn't such a good thing." Jenny braced herself for whatever punchline was coming, she had found that Vastra thought herself to be funnier than she really was. "As many of your police have said, I am the reason you haven't found a nice husband yet, 'I keep far too tight of a leash on you, even for a servant.'"

"Oh hush."

"I know, the only constraints you have are societal." Jenny sighed and her shoulders sagged like she was exhausted. "Was that the wrong thing to say?"

"No, you're not wrong."

"Regardless, you'd make a fine wife for any man." Jenny scoffed at that. "Finish your drink."

"I'm trying."

"Don't you ever plan on getting married?" As far as Vastra was aware it was the norm for a woman of Jenny's age to already be wed. She'd be lying if she said she wasn't glad her maid hadn't shown any interest in marriage.

"What? Of course I did, it's what you're expected to do. I wanted kids too."

At that she felt her throat go dry, she was thankful that, unlike apes, her complexion didn't change too. She finished her gin. "Do you still want them?"

"About as much as I want a husband."

"And I'd be correct in assuming you don't want a husband?"

"Maybe one day, but only for financial stability. Really financially stable."

"I have money, you have me."

Unfortunately she said this just as the human had attempted to down the rest of her drink, the result was a mess of spluttering and choking and Vastra being half-worried she'd accidentally killed her. Despite this Jenny had to smile at her friends sheer lack of knowledge of human customs. "Not quite what I meant, ma'am."

* * *

This is short but hey-ho.

I really like the idea of Jenny being really comfortable with Vastra to the point where she's really open with her and feels like she can kind of take the piss but only when she's quite relaxed and equally I love the idea of Vastra being really good to Jenny and just wanting to do right by her and make her comfortable and give her a good life but still really want to be a part of it. I've gone off on a rambly tangent I just really love them and they have the potential to have such an interesting relationship.

Reviews are super appreciated


End file.
